Everyone’s talking about non-fungible tokens (NFTs) these days. You’ve seen it on social media platforms, you’ve heard it being talked about by celebrities, and you might even have bought something.

What are NFTs?

An NFT is a digital asset. Its more popular forms include art, music, in-game items, and videos. This asset is usually bought and sold using cryptocurrency, and uses blockchain technology. Each NFT is generally one of a kind and has a unique identification code.

Since it’s available to view, listen, or watch online. Why own it? Well, an NFT lets the buyer own the original item. Its built-in authentication serves as proof of ownership. Sometimes, it’s less about the NFT itself, but more about “digital bragging rights”.

Each NFT can only have one owner at a time. And blockchain technology makes sure that once you own the digital product, it now “belongs” to you, and that ownership can easily be verified on the blockchain.

How did it get so big?

The NFT market was valued at a mammoth US$41 billion in 2021. And this year, it’s set to become bigger. It’s not only a great way for artists to sell and showcase their work (an artist can ensure that with every resale of the asset, they too, earn royalties), but for big brands to promote themselves, and create a more loyal fan base.

As of June 2022, we have seen fashion and retail giants drop their NFTs, such as Prada, Adidas, Budweiser, Vogue Singapore, and Gucci, just to mention a few.

Many people see NFTs as the new form of investment, not unlike collecting exclusive paintings and designer toys. And investors are definitely willing to put in money to get their hands on what they like. Just how much? Well, let’s take a look at the top 10 most expensive NFTs ever sold.

#10 - XCOPY's "Right-click and Save As guy" - $7.09 million (Marketplace: SuperRare)

This very unique piece portrait gif created by NFT artist XCOPY. A huge name in the NFT world, XCOPY is an NFT enthusiast and regularly interacts with their fans via their dedicated channels.

#9 - Larva Labs' "CryptoPunk #3100" - US$7.51 million (Marketplace: Larva Labs)

One of the pioneers in the NFT realm, Larva Labs created a series of 10,000 Cryptopunks, simple 8-bit faces, each one unique with their own accessories, headgear, skin colour combination.

Their success has seen them featured on Mashable, CNBC, The Financial Times, Bloomberg, MarketWatch, The Paris Review, Salon, The Outline, BreakerMag, Christie's of London, Art|Basel, The PBS NewsHour, The New York Times in 2018 and again in 2021.

CryptoPunk is an alien punk with a distinguishable blue and white headband. Simple, but expensive.

#8 Larva Labs' "CryptoPunk #7804" — $7.56 million (Marketplace: Larva Labs)

Another alien punk on the top-10 list, this Larva Lab creation wears a simple postboy cap, square shades, and smokes a pipe. Baffled? Honestly, we are too. But remember when we talked about “digital bragging rights”? That’s where the money is.

#7 - Larva Labs' "CryptoPunk #4156" — $10.35 million (Marketplace: Larva Labs)

This time, the Ape Punk puts on a blue bandana and is probably worth more than many small-medium companies we’ve seen.

#6 Larva Labs' "CryptoPunk #7523" — $11.8 million (Marketplace: Larva Labs)

Perhaps a surgical mask-wearing Alien punk to better reflect the Covid times?

#5 Larva Labs' "CryptoPunk #5822" — $23.58 million (Marketplace: Larva Labs)

This is the most expensive CryptoPunk of all time. One of the 9 Alien punks, and it’s signature? A blue bandana.

#4 - Beeple's "HUMAN ONE" — $28.9 million (Marketplace: Christie’s)

A four-screen hybrid digital and physical artwork by digital artist Mike Winkelmann, better known as Beeple, HUMAN ONE is a kinetic video sculpture.

Noah Davis, the head of Digital Sales at Christie’s, the auction house which sold this NFT, “The hero of the work is a lone astronaut, forever striding through the wastes of a vaguely familiar world, one strewn with oversize Pop icons in various states of decay or perversion, punctuated by the occasional spray of flora, desolate stretches of sand dunes and a few nods to some of the titans of Art History.”

#3 - Pak's "Clock" — $52.7 million (Marketplace: OpenSea)

Created by PAK and Julian Assange, WikiLeaks’ founder, to mark the number of days he has been imprisoned. It was bought by 10,000 AssangeDAO contributors.

#2 Beeple's "The First 5000 Days" — $69 million (Marketplace: Christie’s)

The second piece of Beeple’s art to make the top 10, this collage has been made over 13 years. Since 2007, Mike Winkelmann has been posting one art piece daily without breaks. It was sold by auction house Christie’s.

#1 Pak's "The Merge" — $91.8 million (Marketplace: Nifty Gateway)

This breathtaking piece by Pak, also the creator of “Clock”, was sold on Nifty Gateway for an astounding $91,806,519. It is owned collectively by about 30,000 people, who pooled money together to buy the NFT in December 2021.

Art isn’t dead.

Seeing how much, and how quickly, the NFT realm is growing in just the past year alone, we are confident that the next months would promise even more exciting developments. If you too would like to get a piece of the NFT action, get it with Bit.com. Download our app today and Turn On to your artsy side.